Jaime Wendt Andrae who works in the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Howard Jacob lab as a molecular genetics technical specialist. She is shown doing preparatory work for a sequencing run.

In her highly specialized line of work, even Jaime Wendt Andrae's job title can take some explaining.

Wendt Andrae is a molecular genetics technical specialist and sequencing core diagnostic manager in the Howard Jacob laboratory at the Medical College of Wisconsin. A mouthful, to be sure. But it's a job that combines two of Wendt-Andrae's favorite things: molecular biology and detailed processes.

Molecular biology — the study of the structure and function of DNA, RNA, proteins and other macromolecules essential to life — involves many precise laboratory procedures that must be followed very carefully. The exacting science can produce interesting insights and exciting results.

For example, Wendt Andrae views her son and the son of her identical twin sister as half-brothers — which is, in fact, what they are genetically.

Wendt Andrae also saw firsthand what molecular biology can do for a beleaguered family when, in 2009, the Jacob lab became one of the first in the world to sequence all of the genes of a patient for diagnosis. Her colleagues' discovery of the genetic mutation that was causing a rare and devastating disease in Nic Volker, a patient at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, paved the way for doctors to successfully treat the child.

What does she do? Wendt Andrae set up and manages the diagnostic lab that sequences the DNA of selected patients at Children's Hospital, Froedtert Hospital and other health care facilities.

She does everything from pipetting (using a chemical dropper to measure and dispense liquids) and pouring agarose gels (a material used to separate DNA), to tracking samples that come into the lab and writing standard operating procedures.

How did she get this job? Wendt Andrae started college with the aim of becoming a veterinarian, but several molecular biology classes convinced her she wanted to work in genetics.

"I just loved the details and how everything worked. Why genes work the way they do, why proteins fold the way they do and, because of that folding, this outcome happens. I just loved all of that," she said.

While still an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wendt Andrae got a part-time job pouring agarose gels in the Jacob lab. "I was incredibly lucky that my first job was for Howard," she said.

What is most exciting about her work? DNA sequencing is getting faster and cheaper because the technology is changing so rapidly. The machine used to sequence Nic Volker's DNA in 2009 is now a "museum piece," Wendt Andrae said.

She and her colleagues travel to meetings to see the latest technologies and have companies approach them about testing their equipment in the lab. "If people can say they're putting their sequencer at the Medical College of Wisconsin, it means a lot," Wendt Andrae said.

What does she recommend to people who are interested in this type of career? Take molecular biology and genetics classes, but also computer and computer programming classes. DNA sequencing generates so much data that there is a growing need for people with the skills to analyze it.

"We need more people who can go through the genome and know what the variants mean, and how they all fit together, and how that one mutation in that one place is affecting a patient, their quality of life, their disease state and even whether we can help them or not," Wendt Andrae said.

This is the latest in a monthly feature on careers in a dynamic economy.

Compensation: The average annual salary for biochemists and biophysicists, which includes geneticists, was $81,480 in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Wisconsin, biological scientists earned an average of $63,350 a year, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

To get in: Extensive study in the physical sciences is expected, according to the Princeton Review. A bachelor of science in biology or chemistry is preferred. Few positions are available with only a bachelor's degree, however. A master's in genetics helps, but to have authority in research and development, a doctorate or medical degree is required.

Outlook: Employment of biochemists and biophysicists is projected to grow 19% from 2012 to 2022, faster than the average for all occupations, according to BLS.